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Thursday, 14 March 2013

Operation garden: Part 2.

I want to share with you my planting plan for my garden. It is a bit beyond what is necessary for beginner gardeners, but I have decided to write one out so that I can plan what to sow, and where to plant so that I know every area will have something growing in it at some point! It's not a professional garden plan. I haven't covered every season, but it is a plan to get my garden started, to try to cover all the bare earth at least once this gardening year!

Next I listed all the plants that I had in the garden, or had seeds and bulbs for.

Then, I plotted in all the plants that I already had in place.

Next I plotted all the 'big' plants that would provide structure. Currently most of these so called big plants are actually only about 3 inches high in the form of cuttings, so these have been plotted but only as small plants for this year.

Next I divided up the remaining bedding space and tried to put plants in the right place for the amount of sun they require - I have tried to buy shade tolerant plants though due to the nature of my garden. I've gone for blocks of plants sometimes with two different types mixed together within these blocks.

I have also tried to consider height, and put the larger plants at the back of the borders.

The wobbly shapes around the edge are climbers. It's probably best to refer to the 'Operation Garden: Part 1' post to understand the various random shapes within the plan above. Although in short the darker green is long grass, the brown is the decking area, the grey concrete and stairs, and in the top left corner, compost heap and wood pile (there's an archway over the compost heap hence the climbers growing in that direction.)

The one thing which I have done which will make every experienced gardener everywhere cry softly in to their gardening gloves is to totally ignore anything resembling a colour scheme. I have done this on purpose really. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly I wasn't sure that I would be able to place plants in the right places (shade/sun etc) as well as in a colour scheme. This is only the second year I've had a garden, and last year, everything got eaten by slugs, so I'm pretty inexperienced. Secondly I really wanted a riot of colour across the whole garden. If I manage to get plants to grow this year I will make a plan based on what grows the best where.

I hope that I get a lot of self seeding and growth from existing plants. I really want this garden to encourage wildlife and to feel organic. I would quite like a bit of an overgrown mess as contrast to the almost completely bare borders I currently have!